With electrical connectors, is is often desirable to have an audible as well as tactile indication that the connector is fully coupled in the mated position. This is desirable for a number of reasons, for example, the fact that the connector can and often does include a large number of corresponding socket and plug connections, for example, in the 10's or sometimes even 100's. In order to fit this number of socket and plug connections into a single connector, the socket and plug connections are often small and, therefore, very fragile electrical contacts. Excessive coupling and decoupling of the connector could damage these contacts, and it may be undesirable to break the circuit for a number of reasons. It has been known in the art to provide some spring loaded means, for example, detent ball and spring which snaps into a socket receptacle for the detent ball when the connector is in the fully coupled mated position. This gives the operator both the tactile and audible indication that coupling has occurred in that the snapping of the ball into the dentent ball socket receptacle can be felt and heard. However, such indicators do not give any subsequent indication as to whether or not the coupling is fully mated without cycling the connector again through the mating sequence of the connector. That is to say, if the connector is of the variety in which the coupling ring is rotated to effect mating of the connector to test whether the connector is in the mated position, the coupling ring would have to be rotated in the unmating direction and then back to the mating direction until tactile and audible indication is given that the connector is mated.
In order to alleviate this problem, it has been known in the art to place some visual marking on the connector parts which indicate the position of the parts relative to each other when the connector is mated. However, it is often the case that the connector or many of the connectors cannot easily be observed visually in order to check the mating or unmating because of the accessibility or poorly lighted condition of the connector. Moreover, even when the connectors are located in an area that has limited access, the orientation of the connectors may be such that the visual markings are totally inaccessible.
It can, therefore, be seen that prior tactile and audible mating indicators for electrical connectors are not entirely satisfactory, Recognizing the drawbacks noted above, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a tactile and audible mating position indicator for an electrical connector which gives both tactile and audible mating indication at the time mating occurs and which is constructed to easily be monitored tactilely or visually to observe whether the connector is in the mated position.
A feature of the present invention resides in an expandable ring which is expanded in response to the operation required to mate the connector and which remains so expanded, thereby extending out from the external surface of one of the connector elements so that touching the connector element, will reveal at a subsequent point in time that the connector is mated.
Another feature of the present invention resides in providing a means for expanding this expandable element which, in doing so, gives tactile and audible indication that the connector is mated at the time the mating operation is performed.
Still another feature of the present invention resides in its ease of construction and operation, particularly with the type of connector which employs a coupling ring to mate the connector by rotation of the coupling ring. An expandable ring is provided in an annular groove in the coupling ring and in the unmated position of the connector remains below the outer surface of the coupling ring. Means are provided to expand the expandable ring responsive to the coupling ring being rotated to a position at which the connector is mated such that the expandable ring extends out above the surface of the coupling ring and can be tactilely felt as indicator that the connector is mated. On unmating, the spring characteristics of the expandable ring causes it to move back into the groove moving the balls back into place.
The above features and advantages of the present invention have been described generally in order that the detailed description of the present invention below may be better understood and the contribution to the art may be better appreciated. These and other features of the present invention will be apparant from the reading of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment described in association with the appended drawings in which like reference numerals have been used to describe like elements.